Nick caught a flicker of movement in one of Alexa’s windows, watched her shadow pass in front of the living room window. She was like a drug, the urge to be with her overwhelming. He forced himself to focus on the call with Clay. “He didn’t have a wife? A family?”
“Two kids,” Clay said. “Both grown. That’s how we tracked him. We got a hit on one of the daughter’s phones.”
Clay enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game of revealing his information a little at a time.
“Are you going to tell me where he is or do you want me to guess?” Nick asked.
“The calls were routed through more than one IP, but we unwound the encryption and ended up in Havana.”
“Interesting,” Nick said.
If Nick wanted to disappear — and it’s something he’d given a lot of thought to because there was every possibility he might one day need to disappear — Cuba would be at the top of his list. Havana was overpopulated and chaotic, the infrastructure still immature, the towns outside the city remote and cut-off from the rest of the world. It would be easy to live on cash without raising suspicion, to stay off the radar of anyone who might come looking.
The question was, who was Allen Clatcher hiding from — Frederick Walker or someone like Nick who wanted to take Frederick Walker down?
“Is he alone?” Nick asked.
“Looks that way, but I’d consider taking backup if you’re thinking of paying him a visit. He was a Ranger, decorated in the first Gulf War.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Nick said. “I won’t assume he’ll roll out the welcome mat.”
“You got it. I’m sending you details now. Let me know if there’s anything else you need from me,” Clay said.
“This the only lead?” Nick was hoping to have more to work with. Frederick Walker had the kind of money and power most people could only dream of, the kind of money and power connected to other people with money and power that went back to the founding of the country.
It was the only way Frederick had been able to cover for Leland all these years, the only way he’d been able to pay off witnesses to Alexa’s crash, the investigators at Boston PD who’d worked the case, and everyone else at the department who would have had to look the other way while they threw an investigation into a crime that had killed one girl and almost killed another.
The only way Frederick could usher Leland into the Senate in spite of his history.
“So far,” Clay said.
“Better than nothing,” Nick said. “Thanks.”
He disconnected the call and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
He wasn’t thrilled by the idea of leaving Alexa in Boston. Not after her near death at the hands of Frederick’s thug. But it’s not like he could task Ronan or Dec with protecting her.
The isolation of their situation was more than problematic — it was dangerous.
If their relationship had been out in the open, he could insist Alexa stay at the house with his family. He could ask Ronan and Declan to keep an eye out for her. He could put a tail on her for her own protection without worrying that one of his brothers would ask about the deployment of company resources at a time when they were supposed to be on hiatus.
Then again, he’d managed to utilize Clay’s expertise, and he knew for damn sure that Clay hadn’t said anything. If he had, Ronan would have already kicked Nick’s ass — or tried to anyway.
He considered the possibilities. Muscle they’d contracted in the past, people who weren’t so closely tied to the firm that Nick had to worry about the job getting back to Ronan. It was a riddle with no answer: anyone not closely tied to the firm wasn’t trustworthy and anyone who was might let it get back to Ronan and Declan.
His phone buzzed and he looked down to see a text from Alexa.
You coming in, Officer?
Lust surged through his body. He could hear the purr in her voice, could see the look in her eyes when she used the nickname, always when she wanted him to take her to bed.
He stepped out of the car and made his way down the brick stairs that led to her apartment. Then she was there, her body silhouetted in the open doorway, blue eyes twinkling, more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen.
She smiled and opened the door wider to let him in.
4
Alexa stretched, relishing the feel of Nick’s naked body next to hers under the sheet. It was almost summer, the evening light slanting in through the small windows, partially below ground thanks to her basement apartment.